By Heream Yang
Samantha Givens
Samantha Givens’ (MBA’21) journey into the healthcare industry has been a winding but fulfilling road. After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in Chemical Engineering, Givens opted to apply her analytical skills in the business world, launching her career at Anheuser-Busch InBev. While working her way up from Sales Development Associate to District Manager, she realized she wanted to apply her business skills to the healthcare industry. When given the chance to join Stryker, a medical device company, as a Sales Analyst, she eagerly embraced the opportunity.
“Working at Stryker was a really great opportunity for me to get immersed in the business of healthcare, but I really craved the opportunity to have a greater impact on the patients and have a more strategic role,” Givens explained. “At that point, I decided that — having studied engineering in undergrad — I really wanted to go back and get those business fundamentals through a more formalized program, which prompted me to really start looking to get an MBA.”
Givens focused on MBA programs with a strong healthcare focus and ultimately found her fit at Vanderbilt Business. She began recruiting before school even officially began thanks to events put on by Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), a national nonprofit supporting underrepresented students to achieve business leadership. After recruiting for healthcare strategy roles through MLT, Givens received an internship offer to become a Strategy & Consulting Summer Associate at Pfizer. Her internship went successfully, and she will be returning to Pfizer full-time after graduation.
“I’m really excited to go back to the company and work on projects that are going to have substantial meaning, especially now that Pfizer is in the spotlight and people have a renewed appreciation for the pharmaceutical industry,” Givens said.
Click through the timeline below to see how Givens got her offer:
